The right-wing majority Senate agrees to impose quotas for women in management positions in large companies. The upper house adopted late, Wednesday, October 27, at first reading a draft law LREM for “Accelerate economic and professional equality”, which provides for such a device.
“To restore equality is not to grant them a favor (…) it is to repair an injustice that nothing can justify”, said Elisabeth Moreno, Minister responsible for equality between women and men.
Supported by MP Marie-Pierre Rixain, the text was adopted unanimously by the votes cast last May by the National Assembly. Deputies and Senators will now try to agree on a common text, failing which the Assembly will have the last word.
The senators adopted the proposal to establish a quota of representation of each sex among senior executives and members of governing bodies of at least one thousand employees. It forecasts a proportion of at least 30% of women in 2027, and 40% in 2030.
Financial penalty
In 2030, ” within “ maximum “Two years”, they will have to comply with the rule of 40% of senior executives, otherwise they will see each other “Apply a financial penalty”, capped at 1% of payroll.
The senators also approved the obligation for companies to publish each year on the site of the Ministry of Labor the differences in representation of men and women, but giving them a period of five years after publication of the law.
The left tried unsuccessfully to lower the threshold of employees from which companies would be concerned or to shorten the deadlines.
This text is presented ten years after the adoption of the Copé-Zimmermann law, which imposed 40% of women on the boards of directors of companies.
For the rapporteur Laurence Garnier (LR), if this feminization “Had very positive effects, it did not lead to significant progress in the distribution of positions of responsibility within companies”.
“Fight against gender bias”
“The quotas worked but did not have the expected runoff”, added the centrist president of the delegation for women’s rights, Annick Billon. “Today, there are only 25% women on management committees” of the 120 largest publicly traded companies, Moreno said.
The text also includes “Diversity objectives” in supporting the companies of the public bank BpiFrance. The Senate adopted an amendment by Ms. Billon aimed at requiring the presence of at least 40% of women on Bpifrance’s investment committees by 2027.
It further aims to “Fight against gender bias” in professional choices, thanks to a “Equality index” in higher education establishments and more diversity of juries. He plans “Obligation” pay wages or social benefits into a bank account “Of which the employee is the holder or the joint holder”.
The bill is also aimed at mothers raising their children alone, through the establishment of training and reserved crèche places.
The Senate however modified the article aiming to facilitate access to teleworking for women at the end of pregnancy, it now provides that the employer will be entitled to refuse the request if the functions occupied cannot be carried out remotely. “Disappointed”, the left abstained on this text.